Indirect effects of invasive crayfish on native fish parasites

Similar documents
A. Voutilainen 1,2 *

Protect Our Reefs Grant Interim Report (October 1, 2008 March 31, 2009) Principal investigators: Donald C. Behringer and Mark J.

niche requirements, interspecific

Legendre et al Appendices and Supplements, p. 1

Lake Winnibigoshish Fisheries Information Newsletter

STUDY PERFORMANCE REPORT

311B Lewis Hall P.O. Box 168 Bozeman, MT Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190

EEB 122b PRACTICE SECOND MIDTERM

Monitoring Rusty Crayfish in Southern Ontario Streams and Rivers

Aquatic Invasive Species

Canon Envirothon Wildlife Curriculum Guidelines

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE BEHAVIORAL TRAITS IN A COMMUNITY OF FURCOCERCARIAE TREMATODES: TOOLS FOR SPECIES SEPARATION?

Zooplankton Availability to. Larval Walleye (Sander vitreus) in Black Lake, MI, USA

Winter Drawdown Issues of Concern

SNAIL MANAGEMENT IN CULTURE PONDS ROLE IN LIMITING GRUB ISSUES

Search for the missing sea otters

Alien macro-crustaceans in freshwater ecosystems in Flanders

The Prevalence of Different Species of Fish in Four Different Habitats of Douglas Lake

6/2/2014. Carps. Common Carp. Silver Carp. Rohu. Bighead Carp. Other introductions: Gourami Dojo Golden apple snail Pacu Mosquito fish

Two types of physical and biological standards are used to judge the performance of the Wheeler North Reef 1) Absolute standards are measured against

Hudson River Food Webs

Project Updates January 2015

Predation on and Distribution of Orconectes Crayfish Species in Tenderfoot Lake, Wisconsin/Michigan

Arizona Game and Fish Department Region I Fisheries Program. Chevelon Canyon Lake Fish Survey Report Trip Report April 2015

STUDY PERFORMANCE REPORT

Investigation underway into cause of Crayfish Plague on River Bruskey, near Ballinagh, Co Cavan

Correlation between the occurrence of parasites and body length of roach, carp bream, European perch, zander, and ruffe in the Vistula Lagoon estuary

Fish Conservation and Management

Protection Measures Against Exotic Species

EFFECTS OF PREDATION ON THE BEHAVIOR OF GAMMARUS MINUS

Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria

Objectives. Summary. Background

Hatcheries: Role in Restoration and Enhancement of Salmon Populations

Flowering Rush An Invasive Aquatic Macrophyte Infesting the Columbia River Basin

Zooplankton Migration Patterns at Scotton Landing: Behavioral Adaptations written by Lauren Zodl, University of Delaware

;DG:HIH Plankton

STUDY PERFORMANCE REPORT

Electrofishing and kick seining efforts for invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) on Kodiak Island, Alaska

Summary of Research within Lamlash Bay No-Take Zone - Science report for COAST July

The Effect of Distance, Substrate, Conductivity, and Flow on Crayfish Abundance and. Distribution in Northern Wisconsin Creeks.

1 ^ site s of native and exotic freshw ater fishes in the south-w est ol W estern Australia / M arina Hassan.

Stillwater Status Report: Lough Muck, County Tyrone

6 Producers and Consumers IN KELP FORESTS or coral reefs near the shore of the ocean it is easy for us to see

Spatially explicit modeling of schistosomiasis transmission dynamics: applications to Senegal

What if we are wrong about the lionfish invasion? Craig Layman North Carolina State University

Ocean and Plume Science Management Uncertainties, Questions and Potential Actions (Work Group draft 11/27/13)

Zooplankton community structure in the northern Gulf of Mexico: Implications for ecosystem management

Dauphin Lake Fishery. Status of Walleye Stocks and Conservation Measures

This presentation focuses on: 1. The results of the first four years of compliance monitoring of the Wheeler North Reef, 2. An evaluation of the

Unit 18.2: Mollusks and Annelids

Investigating the apparent absence of polychaetes (Manayunkia speciosa) in the Shasta River: distribution of vectors for myxozoan fish diseases

Living World Review #2

The presence of exotic species, such as zebra mussels, can often become problematic

Ecological Impact of Introduced Crayfish on Benthic Fish in Strawberry Creek. Frank Yoon

Oceans Humans both depend on it and threaten it with their activities

A multi-indicators approach to better characterise littoral pelagic diversity

Electrofishing and Kick Seining Efforts for Invasive Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) on Kodiak Island, Alaska

Test for Transgenerational Immune Priming in the Snail, Biomphalaria glabrata. by Sonal Anand A THESIS. submitted to. Oregon State University

6 Producers and Consumers

Introduction: JadEco, LLC PO BOX 445 Shannon, IL 61078

Management and Control of Asian Carps in the United States. Greg Conover Asian Carp Working Group, Chair USFWS, Carterville FRO

Key words: community similarity; coral patch reef; Enewetak; reeffish; species diversity; Virgin Islands.

INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT OPTIONS FOR THE DOS PALMAS AREA

A field energy budget for northern pike, an aquatic piscivore. James S. Diana School of Natural Resources and Environment University of Michigan

Climate Change Effects and Reef Fishes in the Mariana Islands

Atsuko YAMAGUCHI. Since the catches of these fish decrease as the waters, including those around western Kyushu and

Impacts of Aquatic Invasive Species on the Lake Superior Fishery. by Jeff Gunderson Minnesota Sea Grant Program

Comparison of parasite communities of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from Otsego and Canadarago Lakes

Evaluating the impact of fishing forage fish on predators. Ray Hilborn School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences University of Washington

New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge

Notes on the Biology of Three Trematodes (Digenea: Cryptogonimidae)

2011 Haha Lake Northern Pike Control

CHECKS AND BALANCES. OVERVIEW Students become managers of a herd of animals in a paper-pencil, discussionbased

Geology. Key Factors. Overfishing. Great Lakes Fishes. Historical Fishing. About 10,000 years since last glacial retreat very young ecologically

Life Beyond the Spawning Grounds: Distribution & Food Web Relations of Herring & Forage Fishes in Puget Sound

Stillwater Status Report: Lough Muck, County Donegal

Results of the 2015 nontidal Potomac River watershed Smallmouth Bass Young of Year Survey

THE DYNAMICS OF ESTUARIES AND THEIR FISH POPULATIONS: implications for fish conservation in the Tidal Thames

SCHOOLING BEHAVIOR OF HAEMULON SPP. IN BERMUDA REEFS AND SEAGRASS BEDS

Reducing Disease Risks Caused by Pathogens Associated with Columbia

Lesson 10: Oyster Reefs and Their Inhabitants

6/23/2010. Characteristics of Invasive Species

BIOLOGY Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution

Lionfish Dissection: Gut Content Analysis

Island Fox A POPULATION IN TROUBLE T E A C H E R. Activity Overview

Furcocercous cercariae (Trematoda) from freshwater snails in Central Finland

A Survey of the Shore Crabs in Siletz Bay before the Invasion of the European Green Crab, Carcinus maenas

Conditioned Alarm Behavior in Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas) and Test Their Ability

The Round Goby Botulism Connection. Renea A. Ruffing Graduate Research Assistant Penn State University

BLACK SEA WHITING, MERLANGIUS MERLANGUS EUXINUS NORDMANN

Fall 2017: Problem Set 3 (DUE Oct 26; 50 points)

Fifty years ago, a single cod was large enough to feed a family of four or five. Today it is barely enough for one

ELECTRO-FISHING REPORT 2016 UPPER TWEED

IB BIOLOGY SUMMER WORK OPTION G: Ecology & Conservation

Do anglers reflect the dynamic trends in recreational fisheries? a case study of the Czech Republic.

JadEco, LLC PO BOX 445 Shannon, IL 61078

Application of a New Method for Monitoring Lake Trout Abundance in Yukon: Summer Profundal Index Netting (SPIN)

Ecological Interactions in Coastal Marine Ecosystems: Rock Lobster

PARASITE-INDUCED ALTERATION OF DIURNAL RHYTHMS IN A FRESHWATER SNAIL

University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Billfish Research Program

Transcription:

Indirect effects of invasive crayfish on native fish parasites KATJA PULKKINEN, TIMO J. RUOKONEN, MARJUT MYKRÄ, GORDON TAMBE, JUHA KARJALAINEN, AND HEIKKI HÄMÄLÄINEN Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland Citation: Pulkkinen, K., T. J. Ruokonen, M. Mykrä, G. Tambe, J. Karjalainen, and H. Hämäläinen. 2013. Indirect effects of invasive crayfish on native fish parasites. Ecosphere 4(4):50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/es12-00405.1 Abstract. Interactions between invasive and native species are often modified by parasites. One littlestudied scenario is that invasive species affect parasite transmission to native hosts by altering the relative abundance of hosts needed in parasite life cycles, for example by predation on these hosts. Here we show that presence of an invasive crayfish species, Pacifastacus leniusculus, decreases the mean abundance of native parasites transmitted from snails and aquatic isopods to perch, Perca fluviatilis, in two large boreal lakes in Finland. In contrast, parasites transmitted to the fish from planktonic copepods or mussels, hosts not readily preyed on by crayfish, were not affected by crayfish presence. We suggest that the effect of crayfish on native parasite fauna of fish is mediated via complex effects on invertebrate populations. Hence, our study provides an example of how the indirect ecological effects of species introductions can extend beyond the generally anticipated direct effects, predation and competition. Key words: benthic invertebrates; concomitant predation; ecosystem effects; intermediate host; invasive species; Pacifastacus leniusculus; parasite transmission; Perca fluviatilis; perch; signal crayfish. Received 19 December 2012; revised 25 March 2013; accepted 26 March 2013; published 26 April 2013. Corresponding Editor: E. García-Berthou. Copyright: Ó 2013 Pulkkinen et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ E-mail: katja.pulkkinen@jyu.fi INTRODUCTION Introduced and invasive species are recognized as threats to native biodiversity worldwide (Sala et al. 2000, Clavero and García-Berthou 2005, Snyder and Evans 2006). One important category of interaction between introduced and native species is the role of invasive species in transmission of parasites among native species. In this regard, several alternative scenarios have been brought forward (e.g., Prenter et al. 2004, Hatcher and Dunn 2011, Britton 2012). The most obvious risk is the introduction of novel diseases to natives by invasive species (Prenter et al. 2004, Crowl et al. 2008). Alternatively, invasive species could act as alternative or even preferred hosts for the parasites of native species, thus amplifying the parasite burden on native species ( spillback effect) (Kelly et al. 2009, Poulin et al. 2010). Competition or habitat alteration imposed by the invasive species could also lead to changes in behavior or physiology in native species increasing either their exposure or susceptibility to parasites (Poulin et al. 2010). An alternative, but little studied, scenario is that by altering the relative abundance of hosts needed in parasite life cycles, invasive species could either decrease or increase parasite transmission to the native hosts (Holmes 1979, Poulin et al. 2010). For example, the digenean trematode, Ichthyocotylurus pileatus, has a complex three-host life cycle involving the adult worm maturing in the gut of a fish-eating bird, asexually multiplying cercarial stages in the aquatic snail, Valvata macrostoma, and encysted metacercarial stages attached to internal organs v www.esajournals.org 1 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

of the fish host, Perca fluviatilis L. (Faltýnková et al. 2009). If any of the hosts the bird, the snail or the fish should either increase or decrease in abundance due to environmental changes, this would impinge on the transmission of the parasite and consequently on its abundance in the hosts. The simplest way in which invasive predatory species can affect parasites is by consuming the parasite s host. This has a two-fold impact on the parasite. It decreases the abundance of the hosts, thus decreasing transmission potential for the parasite. In addition, it may decrease the abundance of the parasite directly when infected hosts are consumed by an unsuitable host (Poulin et al. 2010). This kind of concomitant consumption is likely to be common in nature (Johnson et al. 2011), although its significance might only be revealed after changes in the ecosystem. The effect of invasive predatory species on parasite transmission was studied previously in Kenya, where incidence of human schistosomiasis, a severe disease caused by invading cercarial stages of the trematode Schistosoma haematobium, was suggested to decrease in school children after introduction of crayfish, Procambarus clarkii into adjacent aquatic habitats (Mkoji et al. 1999). A clear effect was detected at one of three control-impact pairs, where crayfish were shown to consume the snail host of the parasite. In this paper we show that invasive predators can have profound effects on the composition and abundance of the parasite communities of native species by interfering with the pathway from intermediate hosts to the main host. We demonstrate that the native parasite fauna of the European perch, Perca fluviatilis, is affected by the presence of the invasive predatory crayfish species, Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana), in two large boreal lakes in Finland. Parasites transmitted from benthic invertebrates, especially snails, the preferred prey of crayfish, were markedly less abundant at sites impacted by crayfish than at sites free from crayfish. Our results from spatially and temporally realistic natural settings thus demonstrate more far-reaching indirect ecological effects of species introductions than generally anticipated. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted in Lake Päijänne (61831 0 N, 25824 0 E) in August 2008 and in Lake Saimaa (61815 0 N, 25813 0 E) in August 2009. Päijänne is an oligotrophic lake with a surface area of 1 118 km 2, and maximum and mean depths of 95.3 m and 16.2 m. Saimaa (1377 km 2 ) is classified as oligo-mesotrophic and has a maximum depth of 85.8 m and mean depth of 10.8 m. Both lakes were originally inhabited by only very scarce native crayfish (Astacus astacus L.) populations and introductions of signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) of North American origin started in the early 1990s. The distribution of signal crayfish in the study lakes is still patchy due to the different introduction policies of water owners. Signal crayfish disperse naturally within the lakes, but all inhabitable shores are not yet colonized due to the complex shore structure and large size of the lakes (Ruokonen et al. 2012). In both lakes, five sites with well-established signal crayfish populations and five sites without crayfish were chosen for the study. The selected sites were similar in the main environmental factors (e.g., slope, substrate particle size, fetch) which are known to shape the structure of littoral communities (see Ruokonen et al. 2012). To avoid spatial bias, the crayfish and non-crayfish sites were both selected equally around the lakes in longitudinal and latitudinal directions (Fig. 1 in Ruokonen et al. 2012). All sites were trapped for crayfish to estimate their abundance (catch per unit effort, CPUE) and to ensure the absence of crayfish at control sites. At each site, 25 cylindrical funnel traps baited with fresh fish flesh were set along the shore during the evening and collected the following morning. At the crayfish sites of Päijänne and Saimaa the mean CPUE was 3.71 (range 1.5 to 8.6), and 2.88 (0.8 to 6.4) crayfish per trap per night, respectively (Ruokonen et al. 2012). At the control sites, no crayfish were caught, and the absence of crayfish was also confirmed visually by a scuba diver. Benthic multi-mesh (from 6 to 55 mm) gillnets (length 30 m, height 1.5 m) were used to catch perch in the littoral area. Four nets were set during the evening at each site at an angle of ca. 45 degrees angle to the shoreline and starting at 1 m depth. After 12 h, the nets were lifted and fish v www.esajournals.org 2 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

Fig. 1. The mean abundances (mean number of parasites per fish 6 SE) of parasites transmitted from different groups of intermediate hosts (snails, isopods, copepods or mussels) in crayfish and non-crayfish sites in lakes Päijänne and Saimaa. Note that the scale on y- axis differs between the groups and that parasites transmitted from mussels were not detected from Lake Saimaa in this study. were collected. Fish were packed individually in randomly pre-coded plastic bags and frozen. In the laboratory, fish were measured, weighed and examined for parasites. The digestive tract cut open, organs (heart, liver, spleen, swim bladder) and left eye were removed from fish, pressed separately between glass plates and examined under a microscope with 400 x magnification using transmitted light. During parasite investigation, examiners were unaware of the origin of fish to eliminate subjective bias in the results. For each parasite species and site, prevalence of infection was calculated as percentage of fish infected and mean abundance as the mean number of parasites per fish. Parasites were grouped into four categories according to their intermediate hosts: parasites transmitted to perch from either snails, mussels, planktonic copepods or isopods, each forming one group (see Appendix: Table A1). Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) (Zuur et al. 2009) were used to examine the effect of crayfish presence or absence on the prevalence and abundance of perch parasite groups. Models with a binomial error distribution for parasite prevalence and with a Poisson error distribution for parasite abundance were determined including all first-order interactions in initial models. Significance of individual variables/interactions was used as guidance in model selection. Initial models included crayfish status (two levels: crayfish and non-crayfish), lake (two levels: lakes Saimaa and Päijänne) and centered fish length (continuous) as fixed variables. Random intercept and slope (length 3 site) were added to the models to determine possible site (20 sites) variation and a length-site interaction. The test statistics (Z-values) and significance levels for each model are presented for all main effects under interest regardless of statistical significance. Analyses were conducted using the lme4 library (Bates et al. 2008) within R 2.15.0 (R Development Core Team 2008). The patterns of variation in the parasite community composition of perch among crayfish and non-crayfish sites were explored by Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) ordination (e.g., McCune and Grace 2002). Bray-Curtis distance measure and transformed (log(x þ 1)) mean parasite abundance data were used for the ordination of averaged samples from each site. In addition, differences in parasite community composition were tested with two-factor (lake and crayfish status) non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance ( permanova) (Anderson 2001). Analysis was done for transformed (log(x þ 1)) mean parasite data for each site using Bray- Curtis measure of dissimilarity with 4999 permutations. NMS-ordination and permanova were conducted with PC-ORD 5.0 software (McCune and Mefford 1999). RESULTS In both lakes, nearly all studied fish were v www.esajournals.org 3 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

Table 1. Prevalences (mean 6 SE) and abundances (mean number of parasites per studied fish 6 SE) of parasite species found from perch at crayfish and non-crayfish sites in lakes Päijänne and Saimaa. The number of fish studied per site varied from 6 to 21 in Lake Päijänne and from 6 to 25 in Lake Saimaa. Prevalence infected (%) Abundance Parasite species Host group Crayfish No crayfish Crayfish No crayfish Lake Päijänne Diplostomum spp. snails 94 6 0.04 100 17.7 6 3.0 24.9 6 3.6 Tylodelphys spp. snails 94 6 0.05 98 6 0.01 31.5 6 10.9 48.0 6 6.2 Ichthyocotylurus spp. snails 90 6 0.02 97 6 0.02 14.0 6 3.6 40.0 6 8.2 Azygia sp. snails 16 6 0.03 11 6 0.02 0.3 6 0.1 0.2 6 0.05 Bunodera lucioperca mussels 10 6 0.03 3 6 0.02 0.8 6 0.3 0.03 6 0.02 Rhipidocotyle campanula mussels 32 6 0.13 27 6 0.07 4.3 6 2.2 3.9 6 1.2 Camallanus lacustris copepods 81 6 0.04 79 6 0.02 9.3 6 2.5 7.4 6 0.6 Proteocephalus percae copepods 6 6 0.04 2 6 0.01 0.1 6 0.1 0.02 6 0.01 Triaenophorus nodulosus copepods 30 6 0.06 28 6 0.03 0.4 6 0.1 0.3 6 0.04 Acanthocephalus lucii isopod 56 6 0.03 57 6 0.03 2.1 6 0.4 4.0 6 0.7 Lake Saimaa Diplostomum spp. snails 53 6 0.11 85 6 0.10 6.9 6 1.9 12.9 6 3.7 Tylodelphys spp. snails 61 6 0.13 80 6 0.08 18.5 6 7.7 30.5 6 6.4 Ichthyocotylurus spp. snails 86 6 0.05 82 6 0.04 14.0 6 1.9 16.3 6 4.0 Camallanus lacustris copepods 63 6 0.08 73 6 0.07 6.8 6 1.9 4.2 6 1.3 Triaenophorus nodulosus copepods 27 6 0.07 23 6 0.07 0.3 6 0.08 0.3 6 0.11 Acanthocephalus lucii isopod 40 6 0.08 60 6 0.09 1.3 6 0.4 2.5 6 0.7 infected with parasites transmitted from snails (Table 1) and no differences in the prevalence between crayfish and non-crayfish sites or lakes were detected (Table 2). Nor was any effect detected of crayfish presence on an acanthocephalan transmitted from isopods Asellus aquaticus L or on the parasites transmitted from planktonic copepods (Table 2). The prevalence of the acanthocephalan did not differ between lakes, but parasites transmitted from copepods had lower prevalence in Lake Saimaa than in Lake Päijänne (Table 2; P ¼ 0.003). Parasites with mussel intermediate hosts were found only from fish collected from Päijänne, and no significant Table 2. Results of the GLMM-models on the effect of crayfish presence or absence on the prevalence and abundance of perch parasite groups. Characteristic Response Model terms Z P Prevalence Snail Crayfish status 0.015 0.988 Lake 0.666 0.505 Fish length 2.192 0.028 Isopod Crayfish status 1.062 0.288 Lake 1.77 0.076 Fish length 4.912,0.001 Plankton Crayfish status 0.015 0.988 Lake 2.591 0.003 Fish length 5.786,0.001 Mussels Crayfish status 0.379 0.705 Fish length 2.099 0.036 Abundance Snail Crayfish status 3.077 0.002 Lake 3.63,0.001 Fish length 8.075,0.001 Isopod Crayfish status 2.499 0.012 Lake 1.916 0.055 Fish length 6.804,0.001 Lake 3 Fish length 3.317,0.001 Plankton Crayfish status 0.206 0.837 Lake 0.304 0.761 Fish length 6.355,0.001 Mussels Crayfish status 0.54 0.589 Fish length 3.537,0.001 Crayfish status 3 length 2.029 0.043 v www.esajournals.org 4 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

Fig. 2. NMS-ordination of sampling sites in parasite space (10 species). The crayfish and non-crayfish sites are delineated by solid and dashed lines, respectively. Sites without crayfish were grouped more tightly than sites with crayfish on Axis 1. effect of crayfish on parasite prevalence was found. Fish length had a significant effect on prevalence in all parasite groups, i.e., parasites transmitted from snails, isopods, copepods and mussels (Table 2). The abundance of parasites transmitted from snails as well as from isopods was significantly affected by crayfish presence (Table 2; P ¼ 0.002 and P ¼ 0.012, respectively), being lower at crayfish sites (Table 1; Fig. 1). Fish in Saimaa had fewer snail-transmitted parasites than those in Päijänne (P, 0.001) and for the isopod-transmitted parasite the difference between lakes was nearly significant (P ¼ 0.055). The abundance of parasites transmitted from planktonic copepods was not significantly affected by crayfish presence or lake (Table 2; Fig. 1). In Päijänne, crayfish presence did not significantly affect the abundance of parasites having mussels as intermediate host (Table 2; Fig. 1). As for prevalence, fish length had a significant effect on abundance in all parasite groups (Table 2; P, 0.001 for parasites transmitted from snails, isopods, copepods and mussels). In addition, for parasites transmitted from isopods, the model revealed a significant interaction between fish length and lake (Table 2; P, 0.001). For parasites transmitted from mussels in Päijänne, the model suggested interaction between fish length and crayfish status of the site (Table 2; P ¼ 0.043). The NMS-ordination of sites using abundance data for the 10 parasite species converged on a stable, 2-dimensional solution (final stress ¼ 12.21, final instability, 0.001, iterations 36; Fig. 2). In the ordination, the community compositions of perch parasites differentiated between crayfish and non-crayfish sites in both study lakes along the first axis, whereas lakes differed along the second dimension. Generally parasite assemblages among sites without crayfish were more similar to each other than assemblages among the sites with crayfish. Visual interpretation of differences in community compositions were confirmed by PerMANOVA results. Community compositions differed significantly between crayfish and non-crayfish sites (P ¼ 0.010) and between lakes (P, 0.001). Furthermore, there was no significant interaction between the crayfish status and lake (P ¼ 0.589). DISCUSSION Our results provide a novel demonstration that the ecological effects of invasive species can extend beyond the most obvious direct effects of competition with and predation on native species. An omnivorous predatory invasive crayfish species, Pacifastacus leniusculus, clearly affected the parasite fauna of the native fish species, Perca fluviatilis. Perch from crayfish areas v www.esajournals.org 5 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

had significantly fewer parasites transmitted from snails and from the benthic isopod Asellus aquaticus than perch from non-crayfish areas, while parasites transmitted via planktonic copepods or mussels were not affected by crayfish presence. We argue that this pattern was mediated indirectly via changes in the composition of benthic invertebrate fauna acting as intermediate hosts for parasites with complex life-cycles and infecting perch either as the final host or as the second intermediate host (see Appendix: Table A1). Signal crayfish has been shown to decrease the total abundance and species richness of benthic invertebrates (Nyström et al. 1996, Nyström et al. 1999, Bjurström et al. 2010), especially snails and macrophyte-associated invertebrates such as A. aquaticus. At our study sites, the most marked change in benthic invertebrate fauna was a decrease in snail abundance and diversity at crayfish impacted sites on the stony shores favored by signal crayfish (Ruokonen et al., submitted), although total benthic invertebrate abundances did not differ between crayfish and non-crayfish sites. However, the associations between parasite abundance and abundance of snails or isopods were not linear or positive for most of the sites (data not shown), indicating that the effect is not directly densitydependent. In addition to a decrease in the abundance of invertebrates, either via direct predation or by indirect effects of habitat alteration, crayfish could also change the population structure of an invertebrate species towards the smaller end of the size distribution. Such a change could affect, for example, the transmission of Acanthocephalus lucii from the isopod A. aquaticus, in populations of which large isopods are more likely to be infected (Hasu et al. 2007). Furthermore, parasite-induced behavioural changes could make infected isopods more vulnerable to predation (Seppälä et al. 2008). As a benthic feeder, signal crayfish do not consume plankton directly. However, functional changes imposed by the presence of crayfish could lead to changes in the consumption of plankton by fish and consequently to changes in the abundance of parasites transmitted from plankton. Perch feed on zooplankton mainly as fry, but larger fish are also exposed to some parasites via prey fish having either infected copepods in their stomachs, or parasites in their intestines. According to our results for prevalence and abundance of parasites transmitted from planktonic copepods, no such functional changes were apparent in our study areas. Furthermore, Ruokonen et al. (2012) showed that the presence of signal crayfish did not affect the densities or diets of benthic fish at the same study sites. We found parasites transmitted via mussels only from Lake Päijänne, and no differences between crayfish and non-crayfish sites were detected. The densities of mussels did not differ between the study sites, either (Ruokonen et al., submitted). On the other hand, Anodonta spp., hosts for the most abundant mussel-transmitted parasite, might be too big to be consumed by signal crayfish. When examining the individual parasite species, all those transmitted via snails, except one Azygia species, had lower abundance at crayfish sites than at non-crayfish sites (Tables 1 and 2), indicating that the crayfish had a similar impact on all species even when they have different snail species as hosts (Table 2). Snail-parasitizing trematodes multiply asexually within the host producing large numbers of free-swimming cercariae, which then penetrate fish hosts upon encounter. One infected snail host can produce tens of thousands of cercariae per day for several weeks (Karvonen et al. 2004). Although cercariae live less than two days (Karvonen et al. 2003), their vast numbers ensure encounter with fish hosts. Hence it is not surprising that no differences in the prevalence of snail-transmitted parasites were detected between crayfish and non-crayfish sites. In addition, some individual fish at crayfish sites may get high numbers of parasites, if they happen to swim by a cloud of cercariae produced by even a single infected snail remaining in the habitat. Previously, Orlofske et al. (2012) showed that direct predation on infective free-swimming larval stages of parasites can reduce infection levels in subsequent hosts. However, for trematode parasites transmitted from a snail host, concomitant predation of their larval stages with the infected snails has a potential for higher and longer-lasting impacts on parasite prevalence and abundance. By cutting down the expected life-time reproduction of the parasite in snails, predation on infected snails has a more farv www.esajournals.org 6 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

reaching effect on parasite transmission than predation on single cercariae. Although the complex shore structure within the large lakes we studied has so far prevented the signal crayfish from spreading evenly to all shore areas since their patchy introductions a couple of decades ago (Ruokonen et al. 2012), all crayfish and non-crayfish sites within a lake are interconnected and within a distance of tens of kilometers from each other. Therefore the clear impact of the presence of signal crayfish on the parasites of a fish species capable of moving between the sites is perhaps surprising. However, recent investigations have shown that perch may cluster into small patches even within a large open water area, and thus exhibit limited dispersal between sites (Bergek and Olsson 2009, Bertrand et al. 2011), which might explain the consistent differences in parasite fauna. Such an effect might be weaker for fish with stronger dispersal within the whole lake. So far, the role of parasitism in animal invasions has been considered in cases where the invasive species has been capable of sharing parasites with the native species, either amplifying them or acting as a sink for the parasites (Prenter et al. 2004, Kopp and Jokela 2007, Thieltges et al. 2009, Paterson et al. 2011). There are also well-documented cases where parasites are used as weapons of competition (Prenter et al. 2004, Haddaway et al. 2012), whereby invasive species are either spreading a new parasite to the native species, or the invasive species benefit from being resistant to parasites debilitating the native species. Predator effects on restricting disease spread amongst prey species are well documented for various ecosystems (Ostfeld and Holt 2004, Hall et al. 2005, Hatcher et al. 2006). As described previously for the effect of introduced crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, on the incidence of schistosomiasis in school children in Kenya (Mkoji et al. 1999), predator effects on parasites can also extend to hosts other than the prey species. Here we have demonstrated that invasive predatory species can influence parasite occurrence and abundance in hosts other than the prey species indirectly by interfering with the pathway from intermediate hosts to the main host. Our results provide an example of how indirect effects of invasive species on ecosystems can be more far-reaching than generally anticipated. Through effects on host demography and behavior, changes in parasite abundance and community composition may further impinge on other levels of an ecosystem, potentially leading to a cascade of unforeseen feedback effects. The net effect of the impact will depend on the balance between the negative ( predation, competition for food, habitat alteration) and positive (decrease in parasite load) effects. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Simo Jalli, Pasi Laulumaa, Juho Haatanen and Kimmo Sivonen for assistance with the field work and Markku Pursiainen from Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute for valuable support in planning the study. We also thank Prof. Roger Jones for checking the language. The study was supported by the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation, the Crayfish Research Program of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Institute, the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. LITERATURE CITED Anderson, M. J. 2001. A new method for nonparametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecology 26:32 46. Bates, D., M. Maechler, and B. Dai. 2008. Lme4: linearmixed effects models using S4 classes. R Package version 0.999375-27. http://cran.r-project.org/web/ packages/lme4/index.html Bergek, S. and J. Olsson. 2009. Spatiotemporal analysis shows stable genetic differentiation and barriers to dispersal in the Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis L.). Evolutionary Ecology Research 11:827 840. Bertrand, M., G. Cabana, D. J. Marcogliese, and P. Magnan. 2011. Estimating the feeding range of a mobile consumer in a river-flood plain system using d13c gradients and parasites. Journal of Animal Ecology 80:1313 1323. Bjurström, L., T. Ruokonen, M. Pursiainen, R. I. Jones, and H. Hämäläinen. 2010. Impacts of the invasive signal crayfish on littoral macroinvertebrates of large boreal lakes: a pilot study in Lake Päijänne, Finland. Freshwater Crayfish 17:177 182. Britton, J. R. 2012. Introduced parasites in food webs: new species, shifting structures? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 28:93 99. Chubb, J. C. 1982. Seasonal occurrence of helminthes in freshwater fishes Part IV. Adult Cestoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala. Advances in Parasitology 20:1 292. Clavero, M. and E. García-Berthou. 2005. Invasive v www.esajournals.org 7 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

species are a leading cause of animal extinctions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20:110. Crowl, T. A., T. O. Crist, R. R. Parmenter, G. Belovsky, and A. E. Lugo. 2008. The spread of invasive species and infectious disease as drivers of ecosystem change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6:238 246. Faltýnková, A. 2005. Larval trematodes (Digenea) in mollusks from small water bodies near Česke Budĕjovice, Czech Republic. Acta Parasitologica 50:49 55. Faltýnková, A., K. Niewiadomska, M. J. Santos, and E. T. Valtonen. 2007. Furcocercous cercariae (Trematoda) from freshwater snails in Central Finland. Acta Parasitologica 52:310 317. Faltýnková, A., E. T. Valtonen, and A. Karvonen. 2008. Spatial and temporal structure of the trematode component community in Valvata macrostoma (Gastropoda, Prosobranchia). Parasitology 135:1691 1699. Faltýnková, A., A. Karvonen, M. Jyrkkä, and E. T. Valtonen. 2009. Being successful in the world of narrow opportunities: transmission patterns of the trematode Ichthyocotylurus pileatus. Parasitology 136:1375 1382. Haddaway, N. R., R. H. Wilcox, R. E. A. Heptonstall, H. M. Griffiths, R. J. G. Mortimer, M. Christmas, and A. M. Dunn. 2012. Predatory functional response and prey choice identify predation differences between native/invasive and parasitised/unparasitised crayfish. PLoS ONE 7:e32229. Hall, S. R., M. A. Duffy, and C. E. Cáceres. 2005. Selective predation and productivity jointly drive complex behavior in host-parasite systems. American Naturalist 165:70 81. Hasu, T., J. C. Holmes, and E. T. Valtonen. 2007. Isopod (Asellus aquaticus) size and acanthocephalan (Acanthocephalus lucii) infections. Journal of Parasitology 93:450 457. Hatcher, M. J., J. T. A. Dick, and A. M. Dunn. 2006. How parasites affect interactions between competitors and predators. Ecology Letters 9:1253 1271. Hatcher, M. J. and A. M. Dunn. 2011. Parasites in ecological communities: from interactions to ecosystems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Holmes, J. C. 1979. Parasite populations and host community stucture. Pages 27 46 in B. Nickol, editor. Host-parasite interfaces. Academic Press, New York, New York, USA. Johnson, P. T. J., A. Dobson, K. D. Lafferty, D. J. Marcogliese, J. Memmott, S. A. Orlofske, R. Poulin, and D. W. Thieltges. 2011. When parasites become prey: ecological and epidemiological significance of eating parasites. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25:362 371. Karvonen, A., S. Paukku, E. T. Valtonen, and P. J. Hudson. 2003. Transmission, infectivity and survival of Diplostomum spathaceum cercariae. Parasitology 127:217 224. Karvonen, A., S. Kirsi, P. J. Hudson, and E. T. Valtonen. 2004. Patterns of cercarial production from Diplostomum spathaceum: terminal investment or bet hedging? Parasitology 129:87 92. Karvonen, A., P. Terho, O. Seppälä, J. Jokela, and E. T. Valtonen. 2006. Ecological divergence of closely related Diplostomum (Trematoda) parasites. Parasitology 133:229 235. Kelly, D. W., R. A. Paterson, C. R. Townsend, R. Poulin, and D. M. Tompkins. 2009. Parasite spillback: a neglected concept in invasion ecology? Ecology 90:2047 2056. Kopp, K. and J. Jokela. 2007. Resistant invaders can convey benefits to native species. Oikos 116:295 301. McCune, B. and J. B. Grace. 2002. Analysis of ecological communities. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, USA. McCune, B. and M. J. Mefford. 1999. Multivariate analysis of ecological data, version 5.0. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, USA. Mkoji, G. M. et al. 1999. Impact of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii on Schistosoma haematobium transmission in Kenya. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 61:751 759. Niewiadomska, K. 2003. Pasożyty ryb polski. Przywry-Digenea. Parasitological Monographs. Polish Parasitological Society, Warszawa, Poland. Nyström, P., C. Brönmark, and W. Graneli. 1999. Influence of an exotic and a native crayfish species on a littoral benthic community. Oikos 85:545 553. Nyström, P., C. Brönmark, and W. Granéli. 1996. Patterns in benthic food webs: a role for omnivorous crayfish? Freshwater Biology 36:631 646. Odening, K. 1976. Der lebenzyklus von Azygia lucii (Trematoda). Untersuchungen im Gebiet der DDR. Biologischer Zentralblatt 95:57 94. Orlofske, S. A., R. C. Jadin, D. L. Preston, and P. T. Johnson. 2012. Parasite transmission in complex communities: predators and alternative hosts alter pathogenic infections in amphibians. Ecology 93:1247 1253. Ostfeld, R. S. and R. D. Holt. 2004. Are predators good for your health? Evaluating evidence for top-down regulation of zoonotic disease reservoirs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2:13 20. Paterson, R. A., C. R. Townsend, R. Poulin, and D. M. Tompkins. 2011. Introduced brown trout alter native acanthocephalan infections in native fish. Journal of Animal Ecology 80:990 998. Poulin, R., R. A. Paterson, C. R. Townsend, D. M. Tompkins, and D. W. Kelly. 2010. Biological invasions and the dynamics of endemic diseases in freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater Biology v www.esajournals.org 8 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50

56:676 688. Prenter, J., C. MacNeil, J. T. A. Dick, and A. M. Dunn. 2004. Roles of parasites in animal invasions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19:385 390. Rantanen, J., E. T. Valtonen, and I. J. Holopainen. 1998. Digenean parasites of the bivalve mollusc Pisidium amnicum in a small river in eastern Finland. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 33:201 208. R Development Core Team. 2008. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Ruokonen, T. J., J. Karjalainen, M. Kiljunen, M. Pursiainen, and H. Hämäläinen. 2012. Do introduced crayfish affect benthic fish in stony littoral habitats of large boreal lakes? Biological Invasions 14:813 825. Sala, O. E., et al. 2000. Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science 287:1770 1774. Seppälä, O., E. T. Valtonen, and D. P. Benesh. 2008. Host manipulation by parasites in the world of dead-end predators: adaptation to enhance transmission? Proceedings of the Royal Society B 275:1611 1615. Snyder, W. E. and E. W. Evans. 2006. Ecological effects of invasive arthropod predators. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 37:95 122. Taskinen, J., E. T. Valtonen, and D. I. Gibson. 1991. Studies on bucephalid digeneans parasitising molluscs and fishes in Finland I. Ecological data and experimental studies. Systematic Parasitology 19:81 94. Thieltges, D. W., K. Reise, K. Prinz, and K. T. Jensen. 2009. Invaders interfere with native parasite-host interactions. Biological Invasions 11:1421 1429. Zuur, A. F., E. N. Ieno, N. J. Walker, A. A. Saveliev, and G. M. Smith. 2009. Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Springer, New York, New York, USA. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL APPENDIX Table A1. Parasite species found from the perch studied at lakes Päijänne and Saimaa and their known life cycles including the first and second intermediate hosts and final host. Note that some parasites have only one intermediate host. The parasites were grouped according to the invertebrate hosts from which they are transmitted to perch. Bunodera lucioperca was grouped with parasites coming from mussels only, although it also has copepods as second intermediate hosts. All species transmitted via snails or mussels belong to Trematoda producing free swimming cercariae via asexual multiplication, which then infect the second intermediate host by penetration through skin or gills. Exceptions are Azygia lucii and Bunodera lucioperca, cercariae of which are large and eaten by the next host in the life cycle. All other species are transferred in the food chain. Parasite species Source First intermediate Second intermediate Final Host group Diplostomum spp.,à,,} 1 Lymnea stagnalis, several fishes fish eating birds snails Radix balthica, incl. perch Myxas glutinosa Tylodelphys spp.,à,,# 2 Radix spp. several fishes fish eating birds snails incl. perch Ichthyocotylurus spp.,à,jj, 3,4 Valvata spp. several fishes fish eating birds snails incl. perch Azygia lucii,àà 5,6 Anisus vortex,... pike, perch, burbot snails Galba palustris, Planorbis planorbis Bunodera lucioperca,àà 7 Pisidium amnicum copepod perch, ruffe mussels Rhipidocotyle campanula,àà 8 Anodonta spp. roach perch mussels Camallanus lacustris,àà 9 copepod... several fishes copepods incl. perch Proteocephalus percae}},àà 9 copepod... perch copepods Triaenophorus nodulosus}},à,jj 9 copepod perch, burbot pike copepods Acanthocephalus lucii##,àà 9 Asellus aquaticus... several fishes isopod incl. perch Note: Sources are: 1, Karvonen et al. (2006); 2, Faltýnková (2005); 3, Faltýnková et al. (2007); 4, Faltýnková et al. (2008); 5, Niewiadomska (2003); 6, Odening (1976); 7, Rantanen et al. (1998); 8 Taskinen et al. (1991); 9, Chubb (1982). Trematode, à larval stage, Site of infection: eye (lens or vitrous humor), } includes metacercariae of several species, # includes two species, T. clavata and T. podicipina, jj Site of infection: body cavity, includes two species, I. erraticus and I. pileatus, àà Site of infection: gut, Nematode, }} Cestode, ## Acanthocephalan. Host v www.esajournals.org 9 April 2013 v Volume 4(4) v Article 50